We have a love/hate relationship with the deluxe figures. There have been some very cool releases over the years, but it sometimes appears that quality is sacrificed in favor of good sculpting and interactivity of the figure and it's vehicle or large accessory. There are exceptions of course. Despite this, the sub-line has been responsible for bringing better and more enhanced versions of the basic carded figures into collections and we just don't understand why Hasbro doesn't attempt to release them on a basic card. This can be bittersweet for many collectors. However, a deluxe set like the Mandalorian Speeder With Mandalorian Warrior really doesn't fit this bill perfectly because Hasbro is actually introducing a new character that has yet to be released in other ways prior to this format. It's not like he has been available in the basic figure line (or somewhere else) first and then he got released with better features. He comes to us nearly perfect from the start. And other figures like Count Dooku, Plo Koon and Obi-Wan Kenobi have seen much more articulation as a deluxe figure than when compared to their single figure release.

But the Mandalorian Warrior is perhaps a real treat in the deluxe line. It may be the first deluxe figure this year that may interest those that don't normally collect this line. As a figure, it borrows most of the parts from the totally awesome Pre Vizsla figure, makes it completely anonymous by not giving him a removable helmet (we love this) and this is particularly refreshing because we feel Mandalorians are one species of people that work much better without removable helmets. (Well, Jango Fett is pretty cool with a removable helmet, but we digress). The awesome thing about the Mandalorian Warrior is his incredible body design and beautifully dark paint job. He is super-articulated with ball-jointed hips and this choice alone makes this figure too awesome for words. He is very darkly colored from head to toe and has white on his helmet that really breaks up the overall theme of the uniform. He comes with two blaster pistols that he can house in his holsters, one on each hip and can hold them when needed to fight any foe.

Unfortunately, Mandalorian Warrior does not interact well with his Mandalorian Speeder. We fought terribly with trying to pose him on the bike and after about five minutes we couldn't take it anymore and just gave up. Our biggest bone of contention with Hasbro is their inability to make action figures work well with the vehicles that are designed for them. And they gave the Speeder Bike so many cool features and details and it is a shame that we don't have a pilot that fits on it. Despite having ball-jointed hips, the figure cannot straddle the bike and keep his feet on the pedals. We find this particularly annoying. And if you do manage to get his legs on both sides of the bike, it looks like he is standing up while riding it. The bike has a retractable cord that gets stored underneath the hood which lifts up to reveal some compartments. So as two separate items, they look cool next to each other, but don't expect to fly your Mandalorian Warrior around on this bike. The deluxe line has lots of hits and lots of misses. Mandalorian Speeder With Mandalorian Warrior is somewhere in between but is totally worth the price just to get the figure. (Of course there is an upcoming Battle Packs set which will contain four of these beauties so you just may want to wait.)